Texas Longhorns Practice Report #5 (08/06): Bolden's Versatility, Special Teams Returners, Full Pads

Full Contact Practice and welcome to another edition of the inside Texas football YouTube channel powered by insidetexas.com I'm your host Justin Wells we're flipping it around today we got Joe cook on the scene for another practice report and if I'm a Texas Fan that's exactly what I need first things you got to do you got to come see us at insidetexas.com there is not a better time to sign up catch one of our deals come see us at insidetexas.com and please like that video subscribe to the inside Texas YouTube channel we are getting closer to 10,000 help us get past that threshold so we can really start rocking and rolling Joe cook on the scene it's hot but you know what it's August and football season is happening Joe's in a in one of our favorite places um let's just get right to it fans want to know how practice was today you know how much contact did you see today and and how you know what kind of transpired man there's nothing better than walking up to the deas field s seeing the helmets seeing the shoulder pads and seeing real football pants instead of shorts uh it gets you real excited lets you know that everything's not that far away here as we are on August 6 but uh we got to see some contact got to see them work on tackling a little bit and I'm really curious to see how that goes Steve sarkeesian talked about on Monday night how they will have one live period during this this practice uh but they're still going to work on tackling through outout uh but we got to see a little bit of some tackling drills with some paths then we got to see a little bit of special teams as well one of our shorter uh viewing windows nothing like that first when we were in there for 45 minutes or anything like that nothing like Monday where uh where Ian Boyd and I were there and got to see some 11on 11 drills but still very very worthwhile to be there I got to see some guys popping their pads a little on other pads instead of other people quite to that point but still an exciting time here for Texas football listen it's going and watching practices one thing but it's different when they're thumping with pads on that's when it's grow that's when the grown men come out to play and that's what it's always fun to see you know special teams is get you know we talk so much about Special Teams offense and defense but Joe we gotta we got to give Jeff Banks some love the third phase of the game and you even know it if anybody's ever checked out Joe Cooks huddle from high school punter kicker specialist extraordinaire what are what's kind of the the Special Teams kind of you know just a little bit of the uh of the depth right now we know kicker we know punter but what about the return men because I feel like Texas has an immense amount of speed in depth in the return game what was what what was something you caught today from that they are not afraid to deploy their first string guys there at returner remember last year it was Xavier worthy and that led to touchdowns that led to Great field position that led to opportunities for the offense they're not going to put you know some second string guy they're not going to put somebody back there just to to field Fair catches they are not afraid to put Frontline guys out there jonte cook this is in no particular order jonte cook Isaiah Bond DeAndre Moore Jaden blue and Matthew golden were a few of the guys back there Fielding punts Fielding punts from Charlie Ferris to walk on from Michael karna the true freshman there was one shank uh I didn't see who it came from uh but if you if you play golf if you do anything you get one every now and then that's the first one I can recall seeing in these media Windows I've been to every one we see a lot of special teams in these windows that's the only one I recall seeing uh the other impressive thing and important thing to track uh was Gunner and they are still training Silas Balden there Gunner uh that's someone who they feel I I think a lot of people thought when he first committed okay this is new kelen Robinson yeah that holds true to an extent and that's true in the fact that they they are training him at Gunner we will see how much his offense and and the responsibilities on offense factor in to how much he plays Gunner but they're giving him a shot there trying to sort through my notes and look through some of the other guys who were there at Gunner uh Deandre Mo did a little bit of both did some Gunner for a rep or two did some uh punt return for a little bit good zero back there uh getting a little bit of action all over the place so and the other fun thing love talking about this I know some special teams coaches at the uh FBS level they view Jeff Banks special teams clinics as must attend events because you know you get up there at let's say you're at the High School coaches association in San Antonio they get up there Jeff Banks gets up there and it's like I'm not going to waste any time you knew who I am and that raspy voice of his and it his straight energy from the start so uh that was the case uh here um with with special teams today on Tuesday uh Jeff Banks energetic uh it was also kind of interesting to see um before we go into some of the contact drills uh interesting to see Michael Huff interacting with Will Stone and Bert Auburn I know this is a special teams Centric talk it seems like that's all we got to see uh Michael Huff is there he's still part of the program proudly part of the program and he had a lot of fun with willstone with Michael ker or excuse me with willstone Will with Bert Auburn there were a few times when it was just a punters punting there was kickers back there and he's telling uh willstone bet you can't catch it bet you can't catch it he's having a good time time so uh still a lot of fun back there uh for for someone like Michael Huff who's still staying a part of the program someone who is a part of our program who you need to go check out that is Gabe Winslow a longtime Longhorn one of the smartest people we know a longtime friend of inside Texas is you if you are looking to buy a home and you need a lender Justin how many does he have access to at least 70 70 at least minimum You're Gonna Want to get in touch with Gabe Winslow so head to mortgages by gab.com or give him a call 832 5571 095 Justin what else you got for me I Silas Bolden All Over the Field was out there like I said wasn't that long you pick my interest listen I got a question for you last week Silas Balin was at the at the early of the at the front of the line returning kicks now he's doing and and P return as well now he's doing some Gunner I feel like that kid can't come off the field because we watch him in pra we we we hear about it in the summertime how he's destroying and it's out of nowhere for two the last two months then he's do you know looks fantastic during these open practices um man is Silas Balden I think that guy's gonna qualify this year I think he's gonna get a lot of reps on in different facets where do you think he would be more of a strength in that Gunner roll or back there Fielding it and using his feet to maybe scoot down the field that's a good point and and to that point he probably in in some of the other periods we didn't see he's probably taken punt returns as well like he's he's done that in in sessions you've seen uh but they're trying everything out it's a it's a good time to try various things out I mean Jaden blue that's someone who was just on the dop Walker list uh watch list today and to think that he's gonna be taking punt return opportunities super often when he's also maybe task with 15 or so carries we'll see how that goes so they're still in the experimental stage but man he is someone so so valuable I mean if you like I said if you think of keln Robinson he had Jonathan Brooks ahead of him he had CJ Baxter ahead of him at least as far as just getting carries but he's still someone that found a way to be just needed for this team did it on special teams did it on multiple phases I could see silus Bolton doing that as well someone who is valuable in the return game valuable at Gunner remember keelen Robinson I think he caught a touchdown pass pass one that far in the Big 12 championship game next thing we know he is making a tackle on special teams so I I do feel like Silas Balden is someone who could be that valuable but again you have to weigh his snaps like you weighed Xavier worthy snaps you can't have them on everything they had worthy playing pretty much every down on offense and then doing punt return but that was it they didn't have him doing kick return as well or Gunner uh so we'll see what happens it's someone who we've seen at The X wide receiver spot someone who I'm pretty sure continued at that X wide receiver spot today maybe in the second stream form like he's been with guys like jonte cook Isaiah Bond and even like we saw on Monday DeAndre Moore there at slot he was there maybe in the mix at the second team but he was in the boundary uh he was behind Isaiah Bond he's someone who they just have a lot of Faith with I'm going to keep repeating it over and over seems like jaem Grant he may not be catching a thousand yards in an air raid offense but he's going to be part of an offense that gets him the ball gets him the ball regularly not a gadget guy just a short wide receiver who knows how to get open I love what you also mentioned Jaydon Blue Jaden blue and he's on the do Walker Award watch list today he was on the Paul horning watch list late last week and in in some parts because he's a versatile guy you know we talk a lot we've heard a lot about Silas B but Jaden blue is is another guy that he's going to see the field a lot whether it be 15 20 carries whether it be in the kick return punt return role I it's an embarrassment of riches I think Jeff Banks goes home happy every night Joe I think this might this may not be his best punter but this might be his best from a you know physical standpoint this might be his best specialist you know from a from a return standpoint you know Jeff Banks has to sleep well at night and don't forget Jaden blue when they kept trying to throw kelen Robinson with a cast on out there during the Sugar Bowl they finally came to their census and said you know what let's put number 23 back there and get him some returns and they worked pretty well he had a great game then so they trust him a lot man we've talked about it a lot on this channel but someone who has just come a long way from a a player not very many fans and even some of us on inside Texas we struggle to believe in him because you get better at playing football by playing football he did not do that his senior year high school and now here we are talking about him on the dope Walker watch list so says a lot about the development and his own personal effort he proved us wrong good for him he and I'm I'm glad to admit that we were wrong about that but he proved us wrong he proved that you can be you you can do that still succeed looking forward to seeing what he does this year on uh on the Texas Longhorns and Sark Sark you know give him credit you know we were kind of down on that recruitment we didn't know exactly how it would spin out Sark stayed the stayed the stayed the course he could have hit the portal the last two years no he's good he staying the course I was definitely wrong on that one and I love when that happens any other little tidbits while you're you're cooking at posy East while they're getting my my club sandwich ready make sure you head to all the inside Texas socials stay on this YouTube channel head to inside Texas on Twitter we're on Facebook on Instagram we're going have a bunch of great stuff you'll be able to check out as far as clips from practice wasn't a whole lot but still you're not going to get that anywhere else make sure you stay here for that head to our socials for anything else and of course head to inside Texas for all the best updates all your best practice reports recruiting updates we got we got some videos popping tomorrow we got a we got a commitment ceremony tomorrow I'll be in gar in saxi outside of Garland Texas for khik Lockett deal come CH check us out inside Texas come check us out here at the inside Texas football YouTube channel just stay tuned there's always good stuff Joe Cook always a pleasure when you're on the scene doing it like you do it and that's about as good as it gets like our video subscribe to the inside Texas football YouTube channel get us to that 10K we need you we want you we love you come hang out with us and then hey don't ever forget thank you for making us a part of your day and being a part of the inside Texas football YouTube channel powered by insidetexas.com